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Roundtable: Making Introductions

We’ve discussed before how we all got into K-pop, and friends who were already fans of K-pop have figured into many an “origin” story; so know that we ourselves are fans, it’s only logical to wonder:

Have you ever tried to introduce a friend (or acquaintance) to K-pop, K-dramas and Hallyu in general? And how did that go for you?

Bethany: I introduced one of my good guy friends to K-pop and K-dramas last year. We had a math class together so at the end of the period every day, I’d watch K-pop videos on his iPod Touch and shamelessly fangirl over them. One of the first videos I showed him was “Oh!” by SNSD and he took an interest in Jessica and Sunny. But his interest wasn’t really solidified until I sent him “Good Day” by IU one afternoon. In his words, “it was all downhill from there.” He watched Dream High and became my go-to friend for talk about K-pop over the course of just a few weeks. He learned more about K-pop in a month than I had in two years. Today, I still send him music videos and dramas to take the edge off of college applications. He’s a huge IU fan, and his other biases include Suzy from Miss A and Park Min-young (courtesy of City Hunter).

Gaya: I was a bit late in hopping on the K-pop wagon, so most of my friends were all already well acquainted with K-pop. And there’s no point trying with my sister — we’ve always been opposites, and not even her K-pop crazy school could manage to make her a fan. My latest target was a family friend who slept over: I made her watch SBS Popasia with me until my sister changed the channel, about five seconds later.

Ambika: My entrance into K-pop started with Super Junior. So naturally, when I tried to get one of my close friends involved, I sent them Super Junior videos, starting with the typical “Sorry, Sorry.” She thought their dancing was cool but wasn’t super interested. A couple weeks later, when she was bored, she asked me to send more stuff to her. Horrible decision on her part. I sent more music videos her way and forced her to learn their names. I think Super Junior-M‘s “Super Girl” got to her the most out of what Super Junior has to offer. But to cement her stay in K-pop required Big Bang, who is one of her favorite groups now. Her love for T.O.P has no bounds.

Another close friend became involved primarily because the first friend and I would discuss K-pop, and the second wanted to join in. So my first friend helped out the second one, and now we merrily discuss K-pop and unload our thoughts on whatever is happening.

Converting my sister wasn’t as successful. She likes a song here and there but doesn’t have the time or interest to pursue it.

Fannie: I think that the best route to K-pop (or anything, for that matter) is through personal curiosity, not someone trying to force you to like the things that they like. If someone asks me about K-pop, I’ll happily answer their questions and give them some suggestions as to where to start, but I generally wait for the other person to bring it up first (and of their own accord), before letting the floodgates open. No one can force anyone else to like anything; if a person chooses not to take the bait of their own accord, then it probably was not going to be their cup of tea in the first place.

Jasper: I think I’m going to have to agree with Fannie with this. Out of all the friends that I actively tried (oh and trust me, I tried my absolute hardest) to introduce to the world of K-pop, none of them really stuck by it. They listened to some songs and artists just to please me, but they soon just lost interest.

Interestingly, it was instead those who came upon the lofty genre by themselves who ended up falling in love with it. Of course, they always had me as a resource for any questions, but those who naturally learned for themselves the workings of K-pop were the ones who eventually learned to appreciate it, becoming dedicated fans.

And honestly, I think this has to do with the whole process of converting someone into K-pop. When we actively try to make someone a fan of K-pop, whether we notice it or not, we are indirectly pushing our preferences and biases onto them. K-pop, while often-times homogeneous, is a very divided and polarizing fandom that drives itself with fan dedication. As a result, when we introduce a friend to acquaintance to the genre, we tend to favor our own biases, leaving out particular groups or acts that we aren’t as dedicated in. And seeing how people can have very different tastes in music, this could turn out as a huge potential loss. Our so-called “converts” would then usually ever bother to see a very selected and preconceived image of K-pop, an image they may not necessarily agree with.

In contrast, when a fan stumbles into K-pop by themselves, they are much more free to explore the numerous acts, picking their own preferences and eventually getting their own biases. Of course, we can still be free to recommend groups or idols, but ultimately, it would be the individual’s own choice to follow the group, rather than being forced into listening to them.

Young-Ji: Interesting points Jasper! I agree that trying to convert someone into K-pop maybe a fruitless activity. I’m like Fannie, where I’m rather passive in my K-pop love. And let’s be honest here, there are a lot of closeted K-pop fans who are embarrassed to admit that they are fan of it. Maybe it has to do with the image it portrays itself, but a lot of my Asian guy friends are not vocal about their love for BoA, SNSD, etc. They tend to play it off and try to make it seem like K-pop is just one of the genres that they are interested in, while I know that they are interested in all.

Interestingly, my black female friends are more vocal about their fascination with K-pop. I have a friend who leaves work early to catch her favorite drama and is not shy to tell her co-workers about it. In sum, I don’t try to spread my love for K-pop, but once I find out that my friends and I share the same interest, we tend to introduce each other to different artists and dramas within K-pop, which opened my eyes to a lot of different K-pop artists.

Gaya: … So, does this mean that my attempts of getting my parents to like K-pop by exposing them to it every chance I get so that they’ll let me go to K-pop concerts that that are never held my city (excluding Jay Park) isn’t going to work?

Bethany: Parents are hard to convert though. Just look at Sung Shi-won’s dad from Answer Me, 1997! I’ve never had a fight with my dad over him calling Myungsoo a skinny monkey, but I definitely had a hard time letting me go to the Big Bang concert in Shanghai this past summer.

Fannie: K-dramas are the way to go if you want to start converting your parents to K-pop. I don’t think I’d ever get mine to understand what’s so great about K-pop music (it pretty much is a genre that caters toward youth culture anyway) but K-dramas are a whole different story, especially if you can find hard copies of them subbed or dubbed. I remember the time when some family friends casually lent my parents the complete Dae Jang Geum box set — let’s just say that we were all very sleep-deprived for the few weeks after that.

Jasper: I’d definitely agree with K-dramas being easier to introduce to friends and family alike. Seeing how my friends are mostly huge anime fans (many being shoujo fans in particular), they tend to relate more with the plotlines and visuals of K-drama over the processed sound of K-pop.

And considering the overly melodramatic, occasionally humorous, and insanely romantic tones of most dramas, they proved to be quite popular in my family. Dubbed Korean dramas are already a pretty big thing in the Philippines and take a pretty big part in Filipino broadcasting networks, but it was all a matter of recommending the right drama to get my mom and sister hooked. I vividly remember my sister staying up all through the last days of summer marathoning Dream High and falling in love with Kim Soo-hyun in the process. …It was a very jarring period to say the least.

And lastly, to all those that I’ve somehow persuaded to watch an episode of Running Man seem to absolutely love it. I find the gags of K-variety to be much more universal, and I definitely regard the genre as an unnoticed yet pretty potent factor in Hallyu.

Johnelle: The funniest thing ever is that my friends tried to convert me, they were all into K-dramas, but I was all like “Are you crazy? I don’t want to be reading subtitles all the time.” I think the K-pop gods had it in for me after that. It was about a year or so later that my niece who was fully into everything Korean entertainment pulled me in through curiosity when being in the same room while she was watching We Got Married and I got sucked in because of the Hwang Bo and Kim Hyun-joong couple’s antics. And while my interest was piqued she told me that Kim Hyun-joong was going to be in this K-drama called Boys Over Flowers and that was the beginning of the end.

Because I had been so vehemently against watching K-dramas before I had to somehow rationalize my sudden downfall into the abyss that is the life of a K-drama fan so I did the only thing I could think of. Which was to try and get everyone else I knew hooked on K-dramas too–because then I wouldn’t be crazy, you know. My friends had already weaned themselves off of K-dramas because it started controlling their lives (they only watched on TV and didn’t know the wonders of watching at your whim online) so I started telling my friends at work and any relatives and acquaintances I knew (all female teens and older) about the wonder that was Boys Over Flowers. I got most of them to watch it, one of my nieces marathoned the whole show in a weekend, but although most of them enjoyed Boys Over Flowers none of them got into Korean entertainment as much as I did.

So while I didn’t convert everyone I knew as hard as I tried, I’m okay with my K-drama, K-pop, K-variety obsession now. I have a few friends that are into it also that I’ve gone to concerts with and some friends at work who also watch K-dramas so we all chat about what’s going on with the latest dramas. And of course I get to share some of my K-pop obsessions here on Seoulbeats with our readers and my fellow SB writers–you guys would probably die to have the chance to see some of our chats…

Ambika: K-variety is definitely powerful. A friend’s brother isn’t really into K-pop or dramas, but they sit together to watch Running Man weekly. The humor and competition that some variety shows have can relate in ways that dramas and music don’t.

Johnelle: Agreed on the power of K-variety. Because while Boys Over Flowers got me hooked, it was my love of Family Outing that pulled me hook line and sinker into Korean entertainment, I could actually feel self getting over K-dramas after a couple of months–there are lulls when your favorite type of K-dramas aren’t playing and it was K-varieties that filled that void for me. It was actually Family Outing that got me into K-pop through my affection for Lee Hyori and Daesung.

Nabeela: Getting my friends into K-pop was always a flop, save for my best friend, who is Korean. When I had come to her with my K-pop feels, she was able to unleash all her smothered love for K-pop and we rocked it together.

To be quite honest though, most of the friends I tried introducing to K-pop just ended up making fun of me, mainly because I’m not Korean and they argued with me about how I could even enjoy music I couldn’t understand. It’s really funny how easy it was for them to call me out on loving classics like Super Junior’s “U” and DBSK’s “Rising Sun,” and yet here we are five years after I fell for K-pop with everyone bouncing around screaming “Gangnam Style” in my face.

But yeah, I think Jasper makes a good point up there–most people who really do love K-pop for what it’s worth are the ones who find it themselves.

And about K-dramas–they are the one thing I can’t get addicted to. I can watch performances all night, read fanfic all day, and stalk photos for the better part of most weekends, but I can’t seemed to get hooked to K-dramas they way my friends do. That’s not to say that I don’t think more people find K-dramas entertaining, because I definitely know more people who are into dramas more so than they are the pop.

“To be quite honest though, most of the friends I tried introducing to K-pop just ended up making fun of me, mainly because I’m not Korean and they argued with me about how I could even enjoy music I couldn’t understand. It’s really funny how easy it was for them to call me out on loving classics like Super Junior’s “U” and DBSK’s “Rising Sun,” and yet here we are five years after I fell for K-pop with everyone bouncing around screaming “Gangnam Style” in my face.”

This says it all.

http://twitter.com/rachui9096 rachelle☆g

“To be quite honest though, most of the friends I tried introducing to K-pop just ended up making fun of me, mainly because I’m not Korean and they argued with me about how I could even enjoy music I couldn’t understand. It’s really funny how easy it was for them to call me out on loving classics like Super Junior’s “U” and DBSK’s “Rising Sun,” and yet here we are five years after I fell for K-pop with everyone bouncing around screaming “Gangnam Style” in my face.”

This says it all.

http://twitter.com/rachui9096 rachelle☆g

“To be quite honest though, most of the friends I tried introducing to K-pop just ended up making fun of me, mainly because I’m not Korean and they argued with me about how I could even enjoy music I couldn’t understand. It’s really funny how easy it was for them to call me out on loving classics like Super Junior’s “U” and DBSK’s “Rising Sun,” and yet here we are five years after I fell for K-pop with everyone bouncing around screaming “Gangnam Style” in my face.”

This says it all.

http://twitter.com/silverukiss Silver

Ha! the same here! Everyone kept on asking me why in the world I would want to listen to music in a different language, and now my sister runs around dancing and singing to Gangnam Style.

http://twitter.com/M_Wys Michaela Wylie

I have mostly Kpop on my iPod, so sometimes my little sister listens to it when she’s bored. She liked a few songs by Wonder Girls, “Mirotic”, “Bad Girl Good Girl”, and maybe an SNSD song? The only artist I showed her that she ever seemed actually really impressed by was B.A.P. when I showed her the “Warrior” MV. Lol, she told me they were the only ones who could actually dance. XD

…I’ve shown her SHINee’s “Lucifer”. :P

But I actually got her to put B.A.P.’s discography on her iPod, so…step by step, right?

Besides that, I actually try to push my love for K-dramas on friends more. I feel like I get enough chance to fangirl about Kpop online with people, but there just aren’t as many young people that want to talk a lot about K-dramas. The past week I haven’t been able to stop talking about School 2013, so I feel bad for my friends. XD

I agree that it’s better to introduce parents to Korean entertainment through dramas. I actually really want my Dad to watch City Hunter. It’s the type of show where I know he’d enjoy it. Kpop is kind of embarrassing because I know most people don’t respond positively, but dramas seem to have more depth, I guess. Maybe because you actually watch it with translations, which you don’t have most of the time when listening to Kpop?

It’s funny. I would mention Kpop here and there to my friends, and they would tease me, but I’ve recently had a friend get really into 4minute after Hyuna’s appearance in GS. The thing is…I’m not really into 4minute, so I can’t talk to her about it. XD

Haibara Christie

My younger sister is the same way, but she likes “Rising Sun” because of the part where they all say “Somebody Talks,” and she cracks up every time. She also likes “Sorry Sorry” because of the dance.

And if you want to spazz about Dramas, go to Dramabeans, A Koala’s Playground, Electric Ground, Thundie’s Prattle, and more. But mostly the first two, because they are extremely consistent, and javabeans and girlfriday are the queens of the K-drama Blogoverse. They’re actually linked at the bottom of the page on Seoulbeats.

http://twitter.com/M_Wys Michaela Wylie

Lol, I do go on Dramabeans. Discovered it long before SB, actually. :P

It’s the only drama site I go to though, in general.

Haibara Christie

Same here. I was actually a K-drama fan first because people are actually intelligent in that sphere of K-culture, despite having been introduced to K-pop first. Then I found Seoulbeats, so now K-pop isn’t so bad since I can talk to people who try to analyze pop culture rather than be mindless participants. The other K-Drama sites are actually pretty unique in what they offer, because Dramabeans focuses on Recaps and random news, whereas the others actually take time to analyze particular characters, take an comprehensive look into a drama as a whole, or even relate K-drama to real Korean Culture.

In other words, Allkpop and Soompi just frustrate me with the kind of articles (if they can be even called that) they put out.

http://twitter.com/M_Wys Michaela Wylie

I don’t think you always have to analyze pop culture; there isn’t too much depth, tbh. It’s kind of fun to just participate.

But I was also into K-dramas initially. Actually, I guess what got me into Korean pop culture was actually an OST, so it’s a nice balance. ;) I initially spent a lot more time watching dramas than being interested in Kpop. :P

Haibara Christie

You’re right, pop culture doesn’t have to be analyzed. But it does have to be evaluated for what it is. To be honest, what really threw me off about Allkpop, Soompi, etc. is how unreasonably devoted people are to their idols. Say a song is bad, and people throw pitch forks at you. (This is not everyone though, of course!) Here I can comment on how bad my favorite kpop idol’s new music video is, and no one will kill me. Rather, they’ll ask me to qualify my opinion, and either will support it or reject it explicitly for just as valid reasons. People here also tend to not just write about how much they love X or Y or Z. The whole point of the Seoulbeats community and other website communities of the like is to hold real conversations about things that mean something to them–and that’s why I keep coming back.

Javabeans and Girlfriday put my sentiments in better words than I ever could:

“My underlying modus operandi: Just because it’s pop culture doesn’t mean discourse has to be shallow. I’d like to sustain a fun but hopefully substantive level of conversation, mixed with some irreverence. Because it’s not worth it if it’s no fun.” – Javabeans

“I feel very strongly that people can have thoughtful discourse on just about any topic, and that art—mass, pop, high, pulp, whatever it may be—can and should be discussed intelligently for the thing it is.” –Girlfriday

https://twitter.com/Symponya Jessica Jorgenson

Oh my God, LOL! B.A.P. is amazing, but I’ll never understand how anyone can say no to the ‘Lucifer’ MV. Seriously. I think SHINee are one of the TOP dancers out there! They were the second group I fell for after Big Bang (even though Big Bang doesn’t really dance all that much…..go figure. Lol). But yeah, my family seems to favor k-dramas and k-variety as well. Running Man is an on-again-off-again favorite of my grandmother. :P She’ll watch whenever I have it on my computer. She gets a kick out of the boys….especially HaHa and JaeSuk. xD That sucks about 4minute, though. I’m not really into them either. :l :P

http://twitter.com/M_Wys Michaela Wylie

I think that SHINee if very difficult to warm up to for those that haven’t experienced any Asian media before. I thought “Lucifer” and “Ring Ding Dong” were the weirdest thing ever when I first got into Kpop. It wasn’t until “Replay” that I warmed up to SHINee.

https://twitter.com/Symponya Jessica Jorgenson

Mmm, you probably have a point there, although for me, I warmed up to Big Bang’s “Lollipop” (which does have a bit of a weird factor, I guess, for people used to Western Pop) right away. But then, I never did get into pop music from my own country, for the most part. Probably because I can understand what they’re singing and I’m not too fond of it. :P

So I guess I was a little weird to begin with, lol. I very much embraced the ‘weirdness’ that k-pop has to offer, and I still embrace it…except for some of the overly sexual stuff, like Hyuna’s “Bubble Pop”, even though the ridiculousness makes me giggle. :P And her “Ice Cream” song? HA!!! (not a derogatory ha. It amused me.) The sound effects in the beginning made me lol, especially with Psy’s entertaining involvement in it. :P

But yeah, I would never introduce, say, Super Junior to someone who is highly westernized. I mean really, “Don’t take it in the…WHAT?!” (I now know that’s not what they say, but it sure sounded like it before I looked the lyrics up) O.o That one was definitely weird for me. (even though the rest of the song is AWESOME…..except for Eunhyuk’s “aegyo”……*shudder*…..That’s Sungmin’s specialty. I much prefer Eunyuk’s manly charismatic image.) Sorry SuJu and SM Ent., I love you and all, but really. We know you have English speakers in there. Use them. Thanks, that is all. :P (although they are definitely getting better with their use of English…..I think. I dunno, sometimes they exasperate me.) xD

https://twitter.com/Symponya Jessica Jorgenson

Mmm, you probably have a point there, although for me, I warmed up to Big Bang’s “Lollipop” (which does have a bit of a weird factor, I guess, for people used to Western Pop) right away. But then, I never did get into pop music from my own country, for the most part. Probably because I can understand what they’re singing and I’m not too fond of it. :P

So I guess I was a little weird to begin with, lol. I very much embraced the ‘weirdness’ that k-pop has to offer, and I still embrace it…except for some of the overly sexual stuff, like Hyuna’s “Bubble Pop”, even though the ridiculousness makes me giggle. :P And her “Ice Cream” song? HA!!! (not a derogatory ha. It amused me.) The sound effects in the beginning made me lol, especially with Psy’s entertaining involvement in it. :P

But yeah, I would never introduce, say, Super Junior to someone who is highly westernized. I mean really, “Don’t take it in the…WHAT?!” (I now know that’s not what they say, but it sure sounded like it before I looked the lyrics up) O.o That one was definitely weird for me. (even though the rest of the song is AWESOME…..except for Eunhyuk’s “aegyo”……*shudder*…..That’s Sungmin’s specialty. I much prefer Eunyuk’s manly charismatic image.) Sorry SuJu and SM Ent., I love you and all, but really. We know you have English speakers in there. Use them. Thanks, that is all. :P (although they are definitely getting better with their use of English…..I think. I dunno, sometimes they exasperate me.) xD

KrisMyStar

My parents refuse to admit they love K-dramas…yet they still end up tuning in at 8 every night while I’m slaving through schoolwork :D
Edit: and Dae Jang Geum…I think our family watched that four or five times just to learn how to cook all those food. Never ended up successful.

itsmysunshine

Interesting topic. I started my interest in kpop because of watching variety shows (WGM to be exact), so I introduced my husband to kpop through another variety shows. He liked ‘Love Story in Harvard’, but hadn’t gone beyond that. Knowing he has no interest with WGM, I tried with Hello Baby..

…. to no avail though. He has zero interest, and same goes with my sister who prefers Western pop. But anyway, still trying :p

itsmysunshine

Interesting topic. I started my interest in kpop because of watching variety shows (WGM to be exact), so I introduced my husband to kpop through another variety shows. He liked ‘Love Story in Harvard’, but hadn’t gone beyond that. Knowing he has no interest with WGM, I tried with Hello Baby..

…. to no avail though. He has zero interest, and same goes with my sister who prefers Western pop. But anyway, still trying :p

Haibara Christie

….And I think our point is proven. What’s with the Dong Bang picture?? XD They’re not even fleetingly mentioned this time!

b55555b

they know people like me click on the article the moment we see a DBSK picture even though we know it’s not even going to be about them. it’s a very good marketing technique XP
Yuhno’s face got me into kpop.. oh his wonderful face :) but now it’s Junsu’s awesome voice keeping me here, otherwise i would have left a long time ago.

got me again Seoulbeats!! ::shakes fist::

Haibara Christie

They get me every. single. time. Especially when it’s 2008 DBSK, because they were ridiculously beautiful then.

http://twitter.com/M_Wys Michaela Wylie

Amen to that. DBSK in 2008 was gorgeous. 2009 wasn’t a bad time either, although Yoochun’s hair got a little long.

b55555b

yess 2008 was awesome. Yoochun’s weird yin-yang hairstyle was a little odd (i prefer short hair.. same with Jaejoong.. well for all of them haha) but they looked the best (as a group) when they finally made a Korean comeback with Mirotic. my friend likes to refer to Yoochun’s long and sometimes permed hair as ajumma hair hahaha

b55555b

yess 2008 was awesome. Yoochun’s weird yin-yang hairstyle was a little odd (i prefer short hair.. same with Jaejoong.. well for all of them haha) but they looked the best (as a group) when they finally made a Korean comeback with Mirotic. my friend likes to refer to Yoochun’s long and sometimes permed hair as ajumma hair hahaha

I love every single person’s hair–which I don’t think I’ve ever said before. And those suits….

b55555b

haha i love them in suits. my favorite group photo would be the Mirotic promo poster where they’re standing on giant white blocks, hands in pockets, and looking very badass :)

http://twitter.com/MolyHan Baby Boo Kim

Cassies spazzzzzz

http://twitter.com/MolyHan Baby Boo Kim

Cassies spazzzzzz

VLF218

Dramas are a dangerous thing…

http://twitter.com/silverukiss Silver

I never could get anyone interested in K-dramas or K-pop. The closest I came to it was actually pretty random, when one of my friends found out that I write fanfic and asked to read it. She actually liked it enough that it made her curious to go look up the band it was about. She hasn’t converted yet, but maybe one of these days. :)

AcadiasFire

My one and only best friend lol. When I first told her that I was into kpop she straight up laughed at me. Not because she thought it was stupid but because she had been tryin to get me into jpop/rock and anime. She’s successful half the time now but back then I would downright tell her I wasn’t interested so when i told her I was into kpop her first reaction was to laugh. I never trued to get her unto kpop but because I would constantly sing songs over and over again. One day I was hanging with her and my ssongs of the month were BEast’s I Like You the Best and U-Kiss’s Neverland I was constantly humming them over and over again until finally she asked me what the hell I was singing lol I asked her why and she said it was kind of catchy. Next week her boyfriend tells me that while they we’re on a date she started singing Neverland xD She cursed my name out in the street for that one. Now she is an avid U-Kiss fan, she adores them so much and now I’m showing her more stuff lol

https://twitter.com/Symponya Jessica Jorgenson

Yeah….none of my friends who are my age like k-pop. They think it’s the lamest thing on the face of the planet; right along with One Direction and Justin Bieber. My best friend absolutely forbids me playing anything remotely non-English whenever we hang out…which has resulted in us hanging out less and less lately. Not that I mind. I’d rather not hang out with a stuck up prick like that. :/ I did try to considerately introduce my sister to k-pop, all the while trying my hardest to hold back the flood of rabid admiration that I have for much of k-pop. I think it was mildly successful. She’ll go for Big Bang (my first love) or Zico (just Zico…not the whole of Block B) and some 2NE1, but she’s not really uber into k-music. Now dramas, on the other hand, are what she likes. She stumbled in on a session of me and my other sister watching the first episode of “You’re Beautiful” and she was instantly hooked. She is supposed to learn Japanese culture for part of her job, but she ruefully jokes about how she knows much more about Korean culture now than Japanese culture. I just wish she would miraculously fall in love with the music, so we could have more to talk about.

The experience with most of my younger teen friends has been much more encouraging, though. I find that the majority of them are far more accepting and cool about listening to music from other areas of the world than people who are my age (late 20’s). My little sister’s friend only listened to the first few beats of a Big Bang song (I think it was “Love Song”) before she said, “OMG, GIVE ME MORE!!!” She now loves k-pop as much (if not more….if that’s possible) as my little sister and I. Similar experiences go for 3 other girls and 1 boy. The three girls happened to be in my cabin when I was a councilor at summer camp this summer, and I always played k-pop during free time or whenever we cleaned the cabin (it’s pretty much all I ever listen to, anyway). They danced to missA’s “Touch” and TaeTiSeo’s “Twinkle” throughout the whole week (I had the MVs on my phone) and now they love it whenever I show them a new song or MV. ^_^ The boy is a successful convert from the whole Gangnam Style experience who branched out on his own and discovered Big Bang first (bless him :’D). He’s Asian, (Filipino, I think) and definitely would be able to pull off Big Bang’s style, if he ever tried to. I’m super jealous. :P

seewrite

I was first introduced to k-pop via U-Kiss. I was searching for something totally unrelated and they popped up as the top result. I showed a friend six months later and she was more interested in the thumbnail on the side. She had Lollipop (the Big Bang & 2NE1 one) as her ringtone for a year but that was the extent to of her foray into k-pop.

But I was able to convert my mum farely easily. In fact, she loves CNblue. And an aunt likes Butterfly by G-Dragon. And while my dad doesn’t really understand my love for it, he will stop and watch every now and then when I put IRIS or City Hunter on. Plus he helped fund my trip to Sydney for the k-pop concert last year and when he went to Singapore at the beginning of this year he brought back over $200 worth of music when I only asked for one album. That being said, he still thinks all the guys in You’re Beautiful are girls.

Skittles

All of my friends tease me about kpop because I’m such a fangirl for GD and they’re all like “He’s sooo girly” or “kpop guys are so feminine” needless to say I was feeling rather smug when they saw 2PM and GD sans shirt in Crayon. >:3

Skittles

All of my friends tease me about kpop because I’m such a fangirl for GD and they’re all like “He’s sooo girly” or “kpop guys are so feminine” needless to say I was feeling rather smug when they saw 2PM and GD sans shirt in Crayon. >:3

Gaya_SB

aw, my parents just laughed at GD shaving :(

seewrite

In truth, so did I. As a female of mediterranean descent, I probably have more facial hair than all the k-pop boys combined (actually its not that bad,at least I don’t have to bleach, pluck or wax…yet)

http://thankgyuu.tumblr.com/ Mrs_KimSungGyu

Ooh. Long story time!
My interest in Kpop actually stemmed from my short encounter with J-pop. I’d actually been in the middle of watching Fruits Basket (lol) when I decided I liked some of the songs and started searching up more Japanese music. One day as I was browsing through some stuff (at that point I’d already had a sizable collection of Japanese pop tracks on my ipod) I discovered Big Bang and accidentally downloaded “Haru Haru” (don’t ask me how) thinking it was one of their Japanese songs. At first I’d been put off by it because it just wasn’t what I was used to hearing. The language struck me as harsher and less pleasing to the ear than Japanese was, even if I did like the melody of the song itself.Still, I kept the song on my ipod and one day I revisited it and decided it wasn’t so bad after all. By then I had already been listening to BoA’s Japanese material and I decided that maybe I should get to know more Korean artists just as I’d done with Japanese artists. One thing led to another and here I am now.

About 9 months later I’d started a new school year in High School and one of the freshman girls in my Japanese class asked me if I listened to Japanese music, to which I responded that I did (though barely). She told me that she was more into K-pop herself– or more specifically Big Bang and at that moment some two other freshmen girls (I was a Senior) overheard us and joined in on our conversation. Turned out that they too listened to Big Bang and we all sort of clicked. This was my first encounter with people who listened to K-pop, though as it would turn out we all had different preferences. The girl I’d spoken to at first was mainly a Big Bang stan, and not really into much else; one of the other girls–a Texas native– was more into the ballad groups of Kpop like 2AM and Brown Eyed Girls and the like. While the other girl–who was Asian– preferred to listen to the danceable tracks that Kpop is known for. We never really spoke about Kpop unless it happened to come up because something–such as a poster in the back of our classroom, for example– inspired us to talk about it.

My second encounter, and this one was perhaps the more important, was in my freshman year of University. My roommate actually happened to be Korean, and this didn’t surprise me because I happened to actually be attending a school renowned for their Asian student population– or rather their Korean student population. She wasn’t the one who listened to kpop, in fact she didn’t know much about it at all. When I asked her who she did know she gave me the obvious answers of SNSD and Big Bang and Super Junior, but she didn’t listen to any of them. In fact the only kpop on her ipod was f(x)’s ‘Nu Abo’. On the other hand, half of the residents down the hall listened to kpop and they had been listening to it for years. I would on occasion be on my way back to my room from the bathroom and happen to hear “Bubble Pop” or “The Boys” blasting from several rooms at different times. A few times I even heard one of the students playing Kpop songs on the piano in the dining hall downstairs during service. Haha.

Anyway, I befriended the only other girl in the hall that was as into kpop as I was, and we even managed to get her roommate into SHINee and eventually become obsessed with Taemin. Haha. That friend was a great person to talk to about kpop because we actually had a lot of favorite groups in common (Infinite, Big Bang, Beast, and Block B). It was actually through talking to her about kpop, mainly Infinite, that I was able to fall farther in love with the groups that I followed. Kpop had previously just been an interest of mine, entertainment for the sake of fun, but actually having someone to talk to about it made it so much more enjoyable. Also, she had posters hanging around in her room and I would stare at them every time I came over.

On the other hand, finding people that loved kpop was just as easy as finding people who hated it. The guy that lived across my friend’s room (who was actually a friend of hers) would constantly come over when we happened to be on her computer catching up on the latest videos and concert footage, which wasn’t often, but he’d just stand there and make snide remarks about how the guys dancing on stage were so manufactured and robot-like and how they looked like girls and how crappy the music was. He did confess to having liked some of the music we played once but it was no use asking him which ones because he wouldn’t be able to tell us even if he wanted to. In general the people in our hall were pretty receptive of kpop but I presume it was because they had all been exposed to it before, or if they hadn’t, they didn’t really mind that a bunch of Asian music would play loudly in the hall on occasion because they simply didn’t care. Of course that didn’t mean that they liked it, only that they had no real judgement of it. At home my younger brother absolutely hates it though and he doesn’t fail to let my sister and I know it. My parents don’t seem to care either way, though several times my mom has given my sister and I doubtful glances whenever we play it or she comes into our room and just stares at our posters with a look that almost ask ‘why?’. Haha. She’ll dance to the songs if she likes them though, so I can’t say for sure whether she hates it or dislikes it.

Apart from these, my younger sister is the only other person I know who likes kpop. She’s 13 years old now, but at the time she was at the stage where whatever I did she would eventually become interested in as well (on her own accord). We tended to spend a lot of time together and kind of discovered kpop together as we went along. Initially our tastes were the same (Big Bang, BoA, SS501, etc) but eventually she started liking SNSD and from then on she became an SM stan (only). I on the other hand, have never really liked any of SM’s idol groups so as she became more invested in their music and I in other music, we really couldn’t share as much with each other as we had before, even less now that I’ve gone down the Indie route. Now it has become that she normally dislikes the groups that I like and I care not for the ones she likes. Sometimes I can’t even stand talking to her about kpop because it will just turn into one big argument.

Yoonacorn

Umm….

A. I’m not JUST an SM STAN. I like 22 groups in total (i counted) -and i still love BB, SS501, etc.) =n=
B. I only dislike Infinite
C. You start the arguments
D. No duh we can’t talk about your music, you only listen to Infinite. With a bit of Nell, etc. -n- And it’s not like I dislike them, I’m just not 100% interested.
:)

http://thankgyuu.tumblr.com/ Mrs_KimSungGyu

My sister, ladies and gentlemen. Lol.

No introductions are necessary.

(And I don’t just listen to Infinite. Actually it’s been weeks since I listened to a good portion of their songs.)

It is true though that the majority of kpop groups simply don’t interest me. If she means Infinite is the only idol group I listen to nowadays, then she’s right.

(Ignore her comments guys. Like I said, she’s just 13)

Yoonacorn

And this is a liar, ladies and gentlemen.

/facepalm

kate

ohh, I started with k-stuff when a friend of mine introduced me to “You’re Beautiful” in March 2010, then BOF, I guess that’s a drama that every kpop/k-drama fan watches; since then I am k-popper, but dun watch dramas that much as I used to.
As for introducing kpop to others… I try (still) to convert my younger brother into it. Once I played him BigBang’s Tonight (he likes dance songs)- he liked the melody, but not the language, any kpop song I to play him is like ‘melody okay, but language is no no’ so he just crashed my hopes… How disappointed I was a t first, but still try. Yesterday, I was watching T-ara’s “Lovey Dovey” MV (drama ver ofc), and suprisingly he got interested, but only with video…. or Hwayoung;)
Once when my best chingu visited me I played kpop (b’coz I must do that when doin sth on my computer) and she heard Lovey dovey and liked it and finally I burned her on CD some dance kpop songs:) I was proud like idk what then:)
I know only 1 kpop fan (this chingu who introduced me to Jeremy) :)
so I want to introduce someone to kpop. jeongmal jeongmal:)

http://profile.yahoo.com/R5BKARJWK7NNOXYOIUSP76YJW4 Aj

I’m addicted to Kdramas,Kvarieties and Kpop but I’m not the kind to introduce my quirks to anyone even to my close friends.But they know since I spazz a whole lot around them.I was only into Kdramas then my sister introduced me to SJ and Bigbang and I was hooked to Kpop from then on.Both of us gave up in converting our younger sisters into Kpop, they dont get it so both of us just fangirl on our own.Luckily we have different biases, I like Kyuhyun he likes Siwon.I’m into TOP and she’s crazy about GD. Lately I introduced her to B1A4 and she loves them now probably more than I did since she knows all of them while I frankly can only recognize Baro. I also made her a 1N2D fan.Korean variety shows are awesome.
So is Jasper also from the Philippines?

BVMR

the most successful kpop introduction to my non-kpop-fan friends was of course in a karaoke thanks to 2NE1’s i’m the best. everyone loved it and on my way home they texted me asking whats the title of the song cause they were dyinggg to download it lols
oh and bigbang’s Blue turned my bf from massive bigbang hater to a silent VIP. when it was first released on youtube he kept replaying it until i got sick of it :( and thanks to Alive tour when he accompanied me to go he now has mad respect for GD, didnt laugh at TOP’s pink wardrobe in MAMA (he used to make fun of whatever TOP was wearing), says that Seungri is handsome in person, tries to belt out Daesung’s high notes and asks me if he sounds like him..but he still dislikes Taeyang :( and i even found some bigbang’s songs in his ipod LOL

http://twitter.com/PhanTheHotness Jenny

wow, memories. dbsk all the way!! shine, forever love, rising sun, and O!
i remember being obsessed with O and that did it for me hook, line, sinker
kpop ever since 2006 :D

cancertwin2

DBSK is what got me into Kpop nearly six years ago.

I saw a mashup of “Rising Sun” with Rain, Se7en and DBSK.
Then I found out that it was actually a DBSK song so I checked them out.
At first I was just looking at them, afraid of what Korean music would sound like (I was mostly into Japanese anime songs at that time).
But one day when I was getting my daily dose of looking at DBSK’s videos I forgot to plug in the earbuds and ended up listening to their song “Your Love is All I Need”.
I fell in love and that was it for me!

The song that usually gets my friends is “Mirotic” or at least the music video.
They go gaga for their looks at first but always end up staying due to their blatant talent.

I also got one of my friends (who is Asian but doesn’t like Asian music) to listen to Big Bang. I knew they would be more her style.
She fell in love with Taeyang and promptly bought his album Solar. I felt really proud of myself:)

cancertwin2

DBSK is what got me into Kpop nearly six years ago.

I saw a mashup of “Rising Sun” with Rain, Se7en and DBSK.
Then I found out that it was actually a DBSK song so I checked them out.
At first I was just looking at them, afraid of what Korean music would sound like (I was mostly into Japanese anime songs at that time).
But one day when I was getting my daily dose of looking at DBSK’s videos I forgot to plug in the earbuds and ended up listening to their song “Your Love is All I Need”.
I fell in love and that was it for me!

The song that usually gets my friends is “Mirotic” or at least the music video.
They go gaga for their looks at first but always end up staying due to their blatant talent.

I also got one of my friends (who is Asian but doesn’t like Asian music) to listen to Big Bang. I knew they would be more her style.
She fell in love with Taeyang and promptly bought his album Solar. I felt really proud of myself:)

cancertwin2

DBSK is what got me into Kpop nearly six years ago.

I saw a mashup of “Rising Sun” with Rain, Se7en and DBSK.
Then I found out that it was actually a DBSK song so I checked them out.
At first I was just looking at them, afraid of what Korean music would sound like (I was mostly into Japanese anime songs at that time).
But one day when I was getting my daily dose of looking at DBSK’s videos I forgot to plug in the earbuds and ended up listening to their song “Your Love is All I Need”.
I fell in love and that was it for me!

The song that usually gets my friends is “Mirotic” or at least the music video.
They go gaga for their looks at first but always end up staying due to their blatant talent.

I also got one of my friends (who is Asian but doesn’t like Asian music) to listen to Big Bang. I knew they would be more her style.
She fell in love with Taeyang and promptly bought his album Solar. I felt really proud of myself:)

cancertwin2

On an unrelated note:

I actually thought this post was about group introductions (perhaps because of the photo of DBSK is the part of their concert when they usually introduce their dancers and speak with their fans).

I also notice recently these posts topic ends up somehow being about DBSK’s stage names.

So I wanted to take the time out as an older Cassie to clarify some confusion that people have about the group’s stage names since it seems to baffle a lot of fans in older posts I saw.

First of all, Micky is Yoochun’s English name from when he used to live in America. The name he went by is Micky Park so all SM did was have him use his American nick name as his stage name. FYI, his younger bro Yoohwan’s English name is Ricky Park. Contrary to popular belief he did not get his name based off of Mickey Mouse, they just played that up.

Second, U-Know’s name is pretty much a play on the way that Koreans pronounce his first name. Notice that when he’s announced on a show it sounds like “You know you know”. That’s because when you say his first name Yunho fast in Korean, it sounds like “U Know”. Though people usually break his name up like “Yun-ho”. It’s actually more like “Yu-nho” which is why some of his Japanese fans just call him “Yuno”, leaving the “h” out.

BTW, that’s the reason that his couple name with Yoochun is “2U” because the first part of both their names is pronounced as “Yoo”.

Thirdly, the names Max and Hero were only meant to be used internationally hence why most often they were not called by those names in Korea (also because a lot of Koreans can not pronounce those names). That’s why they have the Korean equivalents Choikang and Youngwoong. I remember an episode of Happy Together in which MC Yoo attempted to call Jaejoong “Hero” and it ended up sounding like gibberish. Jaejoong laughed at him of course.

Also, the reason that DBSK’s stagenames don’t get used very much by fans has a lot to do with what happened when they made their debut in Japan in 2005. When they got there, their awaiting fans asked them to drop their stagenames so that they could feel closer to the members. For example instead of being known as Hero Jaejoong, he was simply called “Jejung” (the Japanese spelling of his name).

If you watch the documentary about DBSK’s success called “The Secret” they mention this.

By the time they went back to Korea, the Korean fans did the same. Therefore their stage names began to get used less frequently. However some of the members adopted their stage names as their actual nicknames like Changmin started using “Max” as his English name. At one of his fan meeting for his 20th birthday, his mother even referred to her son as “Max”. That name actually gets used more often now than it did in the past.

Sorry for the randomness, just wanted to clear that up!

b55555b

aww you forgot to mention Xiah Junsu :(

cancertwin2

I didn’t mention Xiah because his stage name is the most well known and used of all the DBSK names.

I only meant to address those that people typically have misunderstandings about i.e the other four.

Junsu came up with the name himself and it’s meant to be a shortened form of the word Asia, as in someone who is popular all over Asia.

He made his solo debut in Japan in 2010 with that name so he’s even called Xiah there.

cancertwin2

I didn’t mention Xiah because his stage name is the most well known and used of all the DBSK names.

I only meant to address those that people typically have misunderstandings about i.e the other four.

Junsu came up with the name himself and it’s meant to be a shortened form of the word Asia, as in someone who is popular all over Asia.

He made his solo debut in Japan in 2010 with that name so he’s even called Xiah there.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

alison

yunho’s one was his game’s screen name.

Kai Wen Kim

Since I was a child living in China, I was constantly surrounded with Korean Drama. They caught my attention but then went by just as quickly as they came. in 2008, I almost got into KPop (So close!) when I fell in love with Yoon Eun Hee in Goong. I started to research her more after reading in Wikipedia that she use to be a singer. Then I heard the promotional single she collaborated with 2PM, “Tik Tok.” It was an awesome ballad(I strongly recommend you guy to listen to it, and watch the Music Drama, it is such a thriller), I played it on Youtube non-stop for like a a month or two. My friend said I fell into the hallyu trap. I, at the time, did not know what it is nor do i care about it. Soon I turned back to Anime, Chinese Dramas, & American Pop.

In 2009, I became obsessed with the 2006 film, “200 Pounds Beauty.” But the obsession lived only for a little while like Yoon Eun Hee/2PM. Also that year, my mother enrolled me in a summer program in a populated Korea area where I found fangirls worshipping KPop to no end. There’s a girl who insisted to be called “Yoona.” All these Asianess disgusted me.

It was SNSD who led me the way to KPop. Before seeing their MV’s, I was told I look like a KPop guy (I think Taeyang, I’m not sure) so I stayed altered for anything KPop-y just out of curiosity. Luck have it, I came across “Genie” on a Chinese channel on my TV. I was like so many others’ first reaction–WTF with so many members!? BTW they are all so pretty but too bad they they are all Asian to me(yes, this is from a Asian-raised child’s mouth).

So I reported to that friend about it, who was super excited, encouraging me to watch more. Having been the target of being FOBy from so many bullies after moving to US, I quickly dissed KPop to avoid being stereotyped as too Asian ( I was trying to be ghetto black back then). But the thought of watching more KPop views to further discriminate them pooped in my mind, so I Youtube “Genie.” At first there was so many Fan-uploaded MV’s, Live performance, and covers, I was kinda lost in locating the MV I had just seen. I accidentally clicked the Japanese version of Genie and I found the prettiest Asian ladies i’ve ever seen. First I saw Yoona in the center (as always), and was like “who’s that babe right there?” so i spend half an hour trying to locate her out of NINE members, and found my results satisfying. Next off I saw Hyoyeon. I initially thought she’s mixed in the Kroean MV, due to her exotic features, so I kind of looked out for her in the Japanese one. Hot dam, she gorgeous in this one. Lastly i saw Sooyoung’s endless legs. Growing with short and chubby Asian girls, I found having long, skinny legs attractive, and Sooyoung reinforced that thought.

Now I have fell into KPop hole and theres barely any way to get out of it, so I seeked out my friend again for help. She brought me to her other friedns and they started an intense KPop discussion on their biases, and soon I joined in with SNSD. Around that time, Mr. Taxi came out, and I pledged my allegiance to the nine girls for eternity.

It is a wonder how in a short period of time an Anti-Asian kid is now a die-hearted Sone, defending his angels whenever prejudiced comments pop up. Though most non-Kpop friends of mine only know Gangnam Style and view KPop as Bubble-Gum Pop and less polished & sophisticated music industry, I hope they will be able to change their original thought of it.

shannie4888

BEAST got me into Kpop with “Breathe.” It had me hook, liner, and sinker. I love int’l music and I was into my Jpop divas at the time (Ayu, Namie, Kumi, and Hikki) and my Cpop queens (Jolin and Elva), so making the transition to Kpop was the next best thing.

I’ve tried introducing my friend to it and she likes what I’ve shown her, but most of the people in my life just don’t have time to invest in it like I do. I had a lot of free times on my hand when I first got into Kpop and still have some free time now. I’m still shy to introduce people to it, but I love it and it makes me happy. Kpop is my thing and I think I’m kinda selfish with it, plus I know too many judgmental people who already think I’m weird so most of the time, I keep it to myself.

shannie4888

BEAST got me into Kpop with “Breathe.” It had me hook, liner, and sinker. I love int’l music and I was into my Jpop divas at the time (Ayu, Namie, Kumi, and Hikki) and my Cpop queens (Jolin and Elva), so making the transition to Kpop was the next best thing.

I’ve tried introducing my friend to it and she likes what I’ve shown her, but most of the people in my life just don’t have time to invest in it like I do. I had a lot of free times on my hand when I first got into Kpop and still have some free time now. I’m still shy to introduce people to it, but I love it and it makes me happy. Kpop is my thing and I think I’m kinda selfish with it, plus I know too many judgmental people who already think I’m weird so most of the time, I keep it to myself.

shannie4888

BEAST got me into Kpop with “Breathe.” It had me hook, liner, and sinker. I love int’l music and I was into my Jpop divas at the time (Ayu, Namie, Kumi, and Hikki) and my Cpop queens (Jolin and Elva), so making the transition to Kpop was the next best thing.

I’ve tried introducing my friend to it and she likes what I’ve shown her, but most of the people in my life just don’t have time to invest in it like I do. I had a lot of free times on my hand when I first got into Kpop and still have some free time now. I’m still shy to introduce people to it, but I love it and it makes me happy. Kpop is my thing and I think I’m kinda selfish with it, plus I know too many judgmental people who already think I’m weird so most of the time, I keep it to myself.

http://dvqd92.tumblr.com/ Elizabeth

i absolutely agree with Jasper people would probably get into k-pop by themselves without anyone introducing it to anyone else and we all have subjective and different preferences and i don’t force people upon my preference including me as i got into k-pop myself after seeing someone with a picture of Se7en and I was curious and I looked it up on the internet mostly wikipedia and subsequently my love for k-pop started as I casually find it myself and now k-variety, k-entertainment, korean socio-cultural are also included in my radar of korean-related the only time i introduced anything in k-entertainment is k-drama and that’s my family, my mum is now super addicted to k-drama (and asian dramas in general) and my sister does like full house but after seeing another korean drama my sister didn’t like the k-drama cliche. i spoke to my friends and they have interest in k-pop and they”re mostly shinee fans

http://athlieskores.blogspot.gr/ Erisa Desu

Thank you Lee Min Ho and BOF for making my cousin watch Kdrama with me.
I always talk about Kpop to work/friends/streets anywhere. Thanks to Psy my life became easier and everybody is wowed when I talk about Psy’s past and how amasing kpop is.